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  #1  
Old Posted Jan 5, 2021, 4:47 PM
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Did any immigrant enclaves disappear due to return migration rather than assimilation

Many ethnic enclaves (in the US and elsewhere) disappeared due to assimilation into the wider population. Leaving the enclave or having kids of the next generation join the wider society. Some disappeared due to being bulldozed by urban renewal but whose former residents still live in the country.

Are there any enclaves where many of its residents packed up after some time and a large share of whose descendants now reside in the "old country"? Closest I could think of is maybe some temporary Chinatowns in the west driven out in the Gold rush/then Chinese exclusion act days (but many moved to big city Chinatowns still stateside, while others returned to China).

I'd imagine it's rare since even in an enclave, the goal of buying property, having kids cements one into staying long term, but we know there were many cases of high return rates for some immigrant groups for economic migrants like Italians.
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Old Posted Jan 5, 2021, 5:28 PM
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My first comment about this is that in the contemporary era, it's become very easy to have one foot in the old country and one foot in the new country. Plenty of friends and neighbours of mine live this way. It's no longer necessary to sever all of your ties with one place and have all your eggs in a single place's basket.
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Old Posted Jan 5, 2021, 5:47 PM
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Brazil, home of the world's largest Japanese diaspora (about 1 million), faced an interesting returnee phenomenon with 50-70 year delay.

The 1980's were a perfect storm, Japanese best decade, and Brazilian worst. According to Japanese figures, there were only 14,000 Brazilians living in Japan in 1990. In 2005, this number peaked at 302,000 and since then started to decline as Brazilian economy boomed during the 2000's. It bottomed at 173,000 in 2015 and once again, with the 2014-ongoing crisis, is growing 211,000 (2019).

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I wonder if those immigration powerhouses in North America and Europe will have a harder time assimilating so many immigrants coming over such small period and from every corner of the globe. I guess it will be a challenge forging a common culture, even an umbrella one.
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Old Posted Jan 5, 2021, 5:54 PM
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^Brazilians tend to immigrate and then return back to Brazil after a period of time.

I can count on one hand the amount of other Brazilians who have stayed in the US for more than say, 7 years. Typically it doesn't pan out and most people get homesick.

For being one of the most populous countries on earth, Brazil has a very low percentage of it's residents living abroad/immigrating. I don't have numbers at the moment but it's much lower than the US.
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Old Posted Jan 5, 2021, 6:02 PM
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I doubt it's happened in the U.S. in the modern era, but it probably happened in the 19th century after the Chinese Exclusion Act.
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Old Posted Jan 5, 2021, 6:45 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by yuriandrade View Post
Brazil, home of the world's largest Japanese diaspora (about 1 million), faced an interesting returnee phenomenon with 50-70 year delay.

The 1980's were a perfect storm, Japanese best decade, and Brazilian worst. According to Japanese figures, there were only 14,000 Brazilians living in Japan in 1990. In 2005, this number peaked at 302,000 and since then started to decline as Brazilian economy boomed during the 2000's. It bottomed at 173,000 in 2015 and once again, with the 2014-ongoing crisis, is growing 211,000 (2019).

---------------------------------------------------

I wonder if those immigration powerhouses in North America and Europe will have a harder time assimilating so many immigrants coming over such small period and from every corner of the globe. I guess it will be a challenge forging a common culture, even an umbrella one.
Interesting that there was a 50-70 year lag. It seems really rare to have mass immigration by return migration of people two or more generations removed from the homeland because by then most have kids, settled in the new country and assimilated to the language/culture so the old world feels no longer like home (with rare exceptions like Israel and the Jewish diaspora and the unfortunate example of Liberia and the political conflict that resulted from "returnees to Africa" descendants of enslaved African Americans).

Most "move to a new place, make money and return" stories take place within an individual's lifetime not across generations (e.g. "I'll return to grandpa's old country") or at least it's super uncommon for me to hear in English language media.
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  #7  
Old Posted Jan 5, 2021, 6:49 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Capsicum View Post
Interesting that there was a 50-70 year lag. It seems really rare to have mass emigration in return migration of people two or more generations removed from the homeland because by then most have kids, settled in the new country and assimilated to the language/culture so the old world feels no longer like home (with rare exceptions like Israel and the Jewish diaspora and more unfortunate examples like Liberia and the political conflict that resulted from "returnees to Africa" African Americans).
Some freed African-Americans moved to Nova Scotia at one point, and stayed there for a short time before eventually moving on to Liberia.

There still is an Afro-Nova Scotian community today, but judging from the number of former towns (and especially churches) built by them that dot the province, most black people who came to Nova Scotia from the U.S. eventually went elsewhere.
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  #8  
Old Posted Jan 5, 2021, 7:01 PM
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Originally Posted by Acajack View Post
Some freed African-Americans moved to Nova Scotia at one point, and stayed there for a short time before eventually moving on to Liberia.
This reminds me about the bit of counter-intuitive geographical trivia that Maine, not Florida as many would guess, is the closest US state to Africa.
And Canada is closer to Africa than many think.



Though Brazil's closer still than any country in the Americas.





Source: http://www.somethinggeography.com/20...now-whats.html
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  #9  
Old Posted Jan 6, 2021, 6:57 PM
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Most of the Midwest had French communities that have long since disappeared and been assimilated.

I know Chicago had a French community up until about 1900 but it then died out or assimilated.

The only remaining French influence is in the names of Midwestern cities and States.
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  #10  
Old Posted Jan 9, 2021, 11:08 PM
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There aren't a lot of Portuguese left in Angola. I don't know if you want to call colonial overlords immigrants though.
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  #11  
Old Posted Jan 10, 2021, 3:12 AM
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About 900,000 French Canadians migrated to the US in the late 1800s to early 1900s, which represented approximately 1/3 of Quebec's total population at the time. They mainly went to work in the textile mills of New England, living in tenement slum enclaves known as "Little Canadas".

These were the New England mill towns with the largest French Canadian populations in 1900
Fall River: 33,000
Lowell: 25,000
Manchester: 23,000
Woonsocket: 17,000
http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.be...gs/leaving.htm

For comparison, the French Canadian populations of the largest Quebec cities would've been something like

Montreal: 200,000
Quebec City: 50,000
Levis: 18,000
Others: approx 8,000 (ex Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivieres, Saint-Hyacinthe, Salaberry de Valleyfield)

The migration into New England largely ended with the Great Depression. Although the "Little Canadas" of New England disappeared in part due to assimilation, it's estimated that approximately half of the immigrants returned back to Canada. Mind you the immigrants were returning back to Quebec in large numbers even prior to the decline of these enclaves since they often came to work in the mills only for a short time to pay off debts or accumulate savings to purchase property or start a business when they returned to Quebec.
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Old Posted Jan 10, 2021, 3:25 AM
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In Vancouver a very notable one............the Japanese.

Vancouver once had a vibrant and large Little Tokyo district before WW11. Then the war hit and the Japanese, regardless of how long they or their family had been in Canada, were shipped off to internment camps for the rest of the war. The internment camps were hundreds of KM away and they were not allowed to leave them for nearly any reason. They were harsh and unpleasant and when they were finally released after Japan defeat, they found that the government had confiscated all their properties and businesses and they never got them back.

Due to this, many simply packed up their bags and moved to Japan even if they had never even lived there. Today Little Tokyo is just a disjointed single block and you would not even know it exists unless someone pointed it out.
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Old Posted Jan 10, 2021, 6:40 AM
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Brexit may force such a move for a lot of people.
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Old Posted Jan 10, 2021, 3:02 PM
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Italian immigrants to the US at the turn of the 20th century were a more mixed lot, in an economic sense, than the other large national groups that came in the same timeframes (Irish, Polish/Eastern European). That is, a significant contingent of the Italian immigrant group were coming for better financial opportunity and fully planned to return to Italy with more money. That wasn’t the case for the Irish and Polish and other northern European immigrant groups. Many Italians came with money and they left (and came and went back and forth) with more money.

And many Italians did return to Italy, either permanently or intermittently over generations. Little Italys throughout the northern US cities definitely diminished as some immigrants moved back and many others relocated to more suburban areas. But what’s interesting is that in many case in northern US cities, Italians generally settled together in those suburban areas, with many of the homes in these areas constructed by the same Italian families that were moving there. And often the original Little Italys in the cities did not fully disappear, with those families still owning much of the real estate there. You’ll still see Italian restaurants, delis, and social clubs in these places decades after most of the families of Italian ancestry moved out. And the church that everyone went to a still there, and they still go there, and it still hosts their numerous festivals and holiday observations.

In comparison, Italians in the US have assimilated far less over the past century than most Northern European immigrant groups. There’s just a stronger retaining of that heritage and true connection to the home country.
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  #15  
Old Posted Jan 10, 2021, 9:05 PM
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Originally Posted by Acajack View Post
Some freed African-Americans moved to Nova Scotia at one point, and stayed there for a short time before eventually moving on to Liberia.

There still is an Afro-Nova Scotian community today, but judging from the number of former towns (and especially churches) built by them that dot the province, most black people who came to Nova Scotia from the U.S. eventually went elsewhere.
Black people have been in Nova Scotia for almost 250 years. Birchtown, Nova Scotia was at one point the largest settlement of free Africans outside Africa. A good chunk emigrated to Sierra Leone. It may surprise Canadians to know but as recently as 1951, Nova Scotia accounted for 45% of Canada's entire Black population.

"Poor land, inadequate supplies, harsh climate, discrimination and broken promises of assistance led many Birchtown residents to petition the British Government for a remedy, led by Thomas Peters. As a result of these grievances, many Birchtown residents chose to accept Britain's offer and join a 1792 migration to found a free ethnic African settlement in Sierra Leone in West Africa. The majority of blacks who left for Sierra Leone were from Birchtown. Of the blacks who left for Sierra Leone, 600 were from the Birchtown and Digby areas, 220 were from Preston, 200 were from New Brunswick, and 180 were from the Annapolis-Digby area."


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birchtown,_Nova_Scotia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_...s#17th_century
https://blackloyalist.com/cdc/communities/birchtown.htm
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Last edited by isaidso; Jan 10, 2021 at 9:15 PM.
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  #16  
Old Posted Jan 10, 2021, 10:32 PM
mrnyc mrnyc is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by isaidso View Post
Black people have been in Nova Scotia for almost 250 years. Birchtown, Nova Scotia was at one point the largest settlement of free Africans outside Africa. A good chunk emigrated to Sierra Leone. It may surprise Canadians to know but as recently as 1951, Nova Scotia accounted for 45% of Canada's entire Black population.

"Poor land, inadequate supplies, harsh climate, discrimination and broken promises of assistance led many Birchtown residents to petition the British Government for a remedy, led by Thomas Peters. As a result of these grievances, many Birchtown residents chose to accept Britain's offer and join a 1792 migration to found a free ethnic African settlement in Sierra Leone in West Africa. The majority of blacks who left for Sierra Leone were from Birchtown. Of the blacks who left for Sierra Leone, 600 were from the Birchtown and Digby areas, 220 were from Preston, 200 were from New Brunswick, and 180 were from the Annapolis-Digby area."


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birchtown,_Nova_Scotia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_...s#17th_century
https://blackloyalist.com/cdc/communities/birchtown.htm

while of some interest, that was a small, temporary camp of revolution loyalists who petitioned england and went to africa. like 1k in the whole region.

in contrast, there were around half a million free slaves in the lower states before the civil war. most people dont think about that at all either. just maryland had 84k and baltimore had like 18k by 1800s. this is not even getting in to the issues in the south of mulattos, carribeans, etc.. its all a sad and strange history, but much more complex than people think.
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  #17  
Old Posted Jan 10, 2021, 11:27 PM
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The smaller "Chinatowns" in the U.S. mostly died out due to a combination of:

1. Extreme racism of the late 19th/early 20th century, when armed mobs literally chased them out of smaller towns and cities (this same dynamic happened throughout the rural north with black people - in the Reconstruction era, the rural north was fairly integrated, but this fell apart within a few decades).

2. Even when the U.S. was accepting a lot of Chinese immigrants in the 19th century, they accepted something like ten men for every one woman. Given the great taboos against marrying white women at the time - and the low status of Chinese immigrants - most of them died old and childless.

There are some rare examples of places where there were substantial numbers of American immigrants. Liberia is well known of course, but there's a peninsula in the Dominican Republic where many people are descended from American Freedmen. There's also Americana in Brazil, which was founded by white Confederates after the Civil War.

Last edited by eschaton; Jan 11, 2021 at 1:31 AM.
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  #18  
Old Posted Jan 10, 2021, 11:58 PM
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There was a Roma community in Toronto's Parkdale area that was pretty much dissolved by deportation. Stephen Harper sided with his friend Orban in Hungary and maintained they were "bogus" refugees (sorry for breaking the NO POLITICS rule).
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  #19  
Old Posted Jan 11, 2021, 12:34 AM
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A lot of the Chinatowns died out becuase of urban renewal. Detroit had a decent Chinatown on the western fringes of downtown and it was completely bulldozed in the 1960's as "slum clearance." It was relocated a mile north, in the middle of the city's skid row, and was dead by 1990 or so, as non-poor fled for the suburbs and the elderly died off.

There are still a few traces if you know where to look, but no remaining visible businesses.
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